II. Are the children considered their own children?

If yes, are they legitimate or illegitimate

children?
No, the children shall not be considered theirs. Article 164 of the Family Code of the
Philippines provides:
Art. 164. Children conceived or born during the marriage of the parents are legitimate.
Children conceived as a result of artificial insemination of the wife with the sperm of
the husband or that of a donor or both are likewise legitimate children of the husband
and his wife, provided, that both of them authorized or ratified such insemination in a
written instrument executed and signed by them before the birth of the child. The
instrument shall be recorded in the civil registry together with the birth certificate of the
child.
The above provision only contemplates artificial insemination performed on the wife
either with the sperm of the husband or of a donor. If this is the case, then the law will recognize
the child as a legitimate child of the husband and wife provided that they put it in writing before
the birth of the child. However, if the wife received a sperm and egg transplant, both from
donors, then the child shall be considered as illegitimate.
The surrogacy entered into by Joel Cruz and Hayden Kho and Vicki Belo involves two
surrogate mothers carrying the sperm of Cruz and Khos sperm, respectively. Article 164 does
not mention any surrogate mother. Absent of this clause in the provision, or of any surrogacy law
in the Philippines, then the children shall be considered the children of the surrogate mother,
unless there will be adoption involved.
Another way to look at the case is that the children were born of foreign surrogate
mothers where surrogacy is legal and that there was a pre-arranged contract between the genetic
parents and the surrogate mothers. Said contract shall not be recognized by our laws because it is
against public morals and public policy. While not expressly stated illegal, surrogacy is viewed
as against our Christian values regarding procreation as only performed between a husband and
wife.

III. If the surrogacy contracts were prepared by a Filipino lawyer, did the lawyer violate any rule
on legal ethics by doing so?